Radiometric Dating Wiki
Welcome to the Radiometric Dating Wiki This wiki will provide clear and concise introduction to the field of Radiometric Dating. Topics covered include its chemical background, applications to various fields, and descriptions of common methods. The goal is to provide a full enough view of the concept that can be used to form a working knowledge of the topic. Through the pages on this site you will learn in some depth about the various aspects of Radiometric Dating and will gain enough knowledge to apply it to other fields or thoughtful discussion. Introduction Our Earth is vast in scale, it has yet to be fully explored and we discover new phenomena every day. Apart from all that is readily obvious aboveground, there is even more hidden under the surface. Many treasures are found daily, and countless more remain concealed for the moment. When something of interest is unearthed, the challenge becomes interpreting its meaning in relation to our current world. One important step in interpreting some kind of uncovered object is determining its age. Without knowing when it came from it is difficult to determine how it relates to anything. For many years it was only possible to vaguely approximate the age of many artifacts based on the characteristics of surrounding rocks, and nearly impossible to establish the age of others. In 1905 the first experiments regarding radiometric dating were performed by Ernest Rutherford. http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/geohist.html#Radiometric Radiometric dating is a series of techniques that exploits the properties of radioactive isotopes in order to determine age. In order to understand the field of radiometric dating, it is necessary to first understand the chemistry background as well as the situations in which it is useful, and why it is needed. How Does Radiometric Dating Work? The basic ideas behind radiometric dating are the same basic ideas behind the chemistry of all matter. All matter is composed of elements, and all elements are composed of atoms. Additionally, atoms are composed of certain subatomic particles. Based on differences in the number of subatomic particles, elements had different properties. One of these properties is radioactivity . Some forms of elements are not stable and decompose into other elements. http://www.epa.gov/radiation/understand/radiation.html Radiometric dating exploits this property; by knowing how long it takes for a sample to decompose, it can be calculated how long it has been decomposing. More about [[Radiometric Dating - Overview|Radiometric Dating]] Why is there a Need for Radiometric Dating? Without analyzing the chemical properties of an artifact with a radiometric dating technique it is very difficult to gather information about it. For instance, finding a piece of rock that was shaped into some sort of handaxe could be a very important find. However, the context is critically important to this find. From the point of view of an archaeologist, the finding first stands out only as a slightly uniquely shaped shard of rock among other rocks or dirt. For all the discoverer knows, the artifact could have been left by a playing child a year ago, or it could have been created by a yet undiscovered hominid species. By determining the relative age of the object it is possible to give it some context. Once context has been established, the cultural importance of the object can then be assessed. [3] More about [[Applications]] Where Can Radiometric Dating be Used? While radiometric dating can sometimes be a miraculously accurate method of determining age, it requires a fairly specific set of conditions in order to be applied.There are various methods and each has a slightly different set of conditions, but some are common to all methods. For instance, the sample must have been free from external contamination for the duration of its aging. In addition the half-life of the material must be long enough such that a large enough quantity of the original material exists in the sample. More about [[Radiometric Dating - Types|Types of Radiometric Dating]] Explore the Site Learn more by visiting a more specialized page: Kargaly-fig-07.jpg|Applications of Radiometric Dating|link=Applications Radioactive-atom-chem.gif|Chemical Concepts|link=Chemical Concepts Decay.gif|Overview of Radiometric Dating|link=Radiometric Dating - Overview Decay.png|Types of Radiometric Dating|link=Radiometric Dating - Types Controversy.jpg|Radiometric Dating In the News|link=In the News References #Stassen, C. (1998, June 9). Changing views of the history of earth. Retrieved from http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/geohist.html#Radiometric #US EPA | Why are some atoms radioactive. (2010, February 23). Retrieved from http://www.epa.gov/radiation/understand/radiation.html #Tattersall, I. (2008). The World from Beginnings to 4000 BCE. New York, New York: Oxford University Press. Category:Browse